Delivering data to a wireless station

Abstract

Disclosed are methods for delivering data (212) to a wireless station (102). An access point (104), or any other suitable device or system, receives a plurality of association requests (204) from a plurality of wireless stations (102) and transmits a different association identifier (208) to each of the plurality of wireless stations (102). The access point (104) buffers data (212) for a subset of the wireless stations (102). If the number of wireless stations (102) with buffered data (212) at the access point (104) is less than a threshold, then the access point (104) transmits a list of association identifiers indicating that buffered data (212) are held for each wireless station (102) identified by the list. If the number of wireless stations (102) with buffered data (212) at the access point (104) is not less than the threshold, then the access point (104) transmits data indicative of a range of association identifiers indicating that buffered data (212) are held for at least one wireless station (102) identified by the range.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]The present application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14 / 845,726, filed on Sep. 4, 2015, which is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14 / 086,007, filed on Nov. 21, 2013, issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,503,979, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61 / 731,566, filed on Nov. 30, 2012, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference.TECHNICAL FIELD[0002]The present disclosure is related generally to wireless signals and, more particularly, to delivering data to a wireless station.BACKGROUND[0003]Wireless sensors are used in a variety of applications such as reading gas meters, monitoring temperatures, etc. These wireless sensors are often placed in locations where they cannot be plugged in to a wired power source and therefore must rely on battery power for long periods of time. To conserve battery power, these devices typically go into a low-power mode between measuremen...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent text explains that when a device comes out of low-power mode, the access point sends a unique identifier to let the device know that data is waiting for it. However, if there are too many devices, this can lead to increased battery usage and reduced battery life. The technical effect of the patent is to provide a solution for reducing battery life by avoiding the need for frequent updates and promoting efficient communication between wireless devices.

Problems solved by technology

These wireless sensors are often placed in locations where they cannot be plugged in to a wired power source and therefore must rely on battery power for long periods of time.

However, if large number of wireless devices (e.g., thousands of sensors deployed in a building) require frequent updates, the list of unique identifiers is long.

As a result, each wireless device may need to stay awake for extended periods of time, thereby reducing battery life.

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